Brutalization

Abstract

Abstract What does it mean for people to come to fail to recognize their own humanity due to severe destitution or mistreatment? This chapter looks into this question by analysing the so-called ‘brutalization’ of refugees, asylum seekers, and unwanted migrants in the setting of immigration detention centres. Brutalization entails that people become less human(e) or lose touch with their own sense of humanity through severe forms of abuse or deprivation. This chapter highlights the complexities of brutalization by considering how victims in many cases are not turned into something less than human but impeded from enjoying or expressing their full range of human qualities. Only when the human spirit is utterly broken does brutalization dehumanize people in the sense that victims come to fail to recognize their own humanity. Nonetheless, brutalization can constitute a performative act of dehumanization by portraying the victim as less than human.